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Iraq Launches Offensive to Re-Take Fallujah from ISIS; Interview with Congressman Ed Royce; Senate Okays Bill to Let Families Sue Saudi Arabia; Sanders: I'm the Democrat Who Can Beat Trump; Can Women Help Trump Win Presidency?; Tel Aviv's Airport the Safest in the World?; Court Orders Mississippi School District to Desegregate; Maria Shriver on Plight of Working Moms. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 22, 2016 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:00] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It made me hungry.

Explore the food and culture of Georgia on "PARTS UNKNOWN" tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time, only here on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SCIUTTO: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

And we begin tonight with breaking news. In Iraq, we learned just moments ago that the Iraqi military has launched an operation to retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS, an effort to liberate the city held by more than two years now. But we know, residents know, the army knows it won't be easy. In 2004, a battle by U.S. troops to take the city was one of the bloodiest of Iraq War. Some 82 American servicemen and women lost their lives there, 600 more were wounded.

For Iraq, this is a critical battle if the country hopes to crush ISIS. Meantime in Afghanistan, the Taliban now admits that their leader, Mullah Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike. The strike fell on Pakistani soil across the border from Afghanistan. Secretary of State John Kerry says it is time for Afghans to come together for their nation's future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This action sends a clear message to the world that we will continue to stand with our Afghan partners as they work to build a more stable, united, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And in Egypt, the hunt for answers to the mystery of EgyptAir Flight 804. Investigators now using submarines to find a flight data and cockpit voice the recorders while officials plead for patience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHERIF FATHI ATTIA, EGYPT'S CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER: I would encourage everybody, think about the human beings number one. Two, wait for the process to finish. And don't talk about Mr. So-and-So said to Mr. So-and-So in a closed room that there is something wrong in there. This is really unprofessional and not going to lead to anything that is good for anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: To digest all of this and the implications it has in the fight against terror, Congressman Ed Royce joining me now. He's chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is speaking at today's Fifth Annual Jerusalem Post Conference on terrorism.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us on this Sunday.

REP. ED ROYCE (R-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Thank you, Jim. Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: So, Congressman Royce, we have this news just coming into CNN in the last few minutes that the Iraqi military has launched their operations to retake Fallujah earlier in the broadcast. We're showing our viewers pictures of the big line of tanks and other vehicles ready to go in. How important in your view is this battle to take away Fallujah, which is so close to the capital of Baghdad?

ROYCE: Well, it's very important. We were in Iraq and Irbil a few weeks ago, and I can -- I can just make the observation that we've had a few false starts so far in terms of that effort.

I would say it is very important that the government this Baghdad and we've relayed this view to that government, include the Sunni tribes that are actually in that area rather than Shia militia in this effort, because afterwards you don't want to hold Fallujah with the people who were displeased, who were in those DP camps. They need to come back to take possession. And if it's instead Shia militia that do a large part of the operation, I think you're going to have a lot of blowback.

Second, I think it's important that we have good air support. We may need to adjust our rules of engagement in order to help the Iraqi forces on the ground in this effort.

SCIUTTO: And that demand from the U.S. to get a more inclusive not just government, but military operations, is so key and I'll mind our viewers ISIS, it's a Sunni group, some Sunni tribes have supported ISIS because they feel maligned marginalized by the Shia dominated government. Have you seen evidence that the Shia dominated government is bringing that Sunni involvement in?

ROYCE: I pressed the government very hard. I met with Sunni tribal leaders when I was in Iraq recently and their request is they want to take their territory back, but they dot want to fall into the hands of Shia militia. And I think Baghdad should listen to them because that is the best way forward in pushing ISIS out.

SCIUTTO: So the question is will they as always.

We had news yesterday and thousand con fir confirmation today at least the Taliban saying so, the U.S. believes its highly that a drone strike yesterday killed the Taliban's leader. That's a picture of him right here, Mullah Mansour was killed. So, another successful drone strike, Congressman Royce. We've seen others in Iraq and Syria against ISIS leaders. Yemen against al Qaeda leaders.

How significant of a blow do you think this is to the Taliban leadership?

[18:05:03] ROYCE: Well, I think this is an important development because Mullah Mansour killed thousands and thousands of people and is leading an insurrection that frankly we have had a problem in the U.S. not using our air power to target Taliban up until now.

We will target or the administration will allow the targeting of ISIS, but in terms of getting approval to go in and hit units of the Taliban that this has been difficult to get the administration to do, we have a very lackluster air campaign up there and frankly the Afghans need that level of support.

So, the fact that we took out their leader, this is important, but it's only the first step. If we're really going to give the air power, the support necessary to make certain that the Afghans can hold their ground against the Taliban.

SCIUTTO: A Pakistani official says countries leaders were surprised by the strike. Another one saying that it was a violation, foreign minister in fact saying it was a violation of the country's sovereignty. We've heard this criticism in Pakistan before, at least in public.

Do you believe that Pakistan gave the OK for the strike or was given advanced warning or do you think the U.S. carried it out without their permission?

ROYCE: I think that some elements in the Pakistani military are conflicted here for this reason. They've worked with the Taliban in the past, but at the same time, the Taliban and their allies, their other radical allies, are also trying to overthrow the civilian government inside Pakistan itself. And so, this has complicated the situation for Pakistan since they have lost so many civilians to attacks by Taliban and other affiliated radical organizations.

So, I think end of the day, the fact that we've taken out the Taliban leader might allow us to see an evolution in this, where we get more security in the region.

SCIUTTO: Is Pakistan a reliable ally to the U.S. in the war on terror including against the Taliban?

ROYCE: I think the civilian government is. I think that there is an element in the ISI, an element in their security services that in the past have shown a willingness to work with terrorist organizations, especially inside Afghanistan. And my hope is that now that has come back to bite, that there is a realization that that support has to end.

SCIUTTO: On the EgyptAir crash, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump who you have not personally supported, you have said that you would support the eventual Republican nominee, he was quick to say this was terrorism. And he used that to further justify a proposed temporary ban on Muslim travel here. Was Donald Trump too quick to say it was terrorism?

ROYCE: Well, if looks as though it likely is terrorism. We have already seen ISIS carry out one attack of Egyptian flight going from Egypt, Russian airliner to Moscow, successfully. This is the third incident. And in this particular case, we know that ISIS has been trying to develop a new type of weapon that cannot be detected to take on an airplane.

Part of the problem is that ISIS is already operational inside the Sinai, inside Egypt carrying out the attacks and also on the border of Libya where I'm just back also from Libya -- or from Tunisia and North Africa. What they're doing there is they are using that as a staging ground. They're training 6,500 terrorists and they're training them also on how to make bigger and undetectable bombs, right?

So, the fact that the United States has not been successful in carrying out an operation to stop ISIS and have allowed all these recruits to come in and now open up a second training operation inside of Libya has led to a much more dangerous situation. I think this speaks to the issue of why frankly we need a Republican president, we need a Republican Congress if we're going to stop ISIS. We can't have a continuation of another four years of the Obama/Clinton policies here.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: Chairman Royce, please stay with us. We have a lot more topics to cover. Coming up next, a fierce fight waged by the families who lost loved ones on September 11th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want people that murdered your loved one behind bars or you want them to pay for the crime they committed and you want to stop them from ever doing it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I'll speak with Chairman Royce about the push to sue Saudi Arabia.

And later, Hillary said she wants to break the ultimate glass ceiling and become the first female president.

[18:10:00] But could women turn against her and help put Donald Trump in the White House? That's ahead, live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: The U.S. Senate approved a bill to let victims and families of the September 11th attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for its alleged involvement in those attacks. That bill is just what many families have been waiting for for nearly 15 years now. But many obstacles still remain.

CNN's Jake Tapper explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may have been nearly 15 years ago, but for families that lost loved ones on September 11th, 2001, the need for answers feels just as urgent today.

TERRY STRADA, 9/11 FAMILIES AND SURVIVOR UNITED FOR JUSTICE AGAINST TERRORISM: This is not like different than any other murder case. You want the people that murdered your loved one behind bars or you want them to pay for the crime that they committed and stop them from ever doing it again.

TAPPER: Terry Strada's husband, Tom, was working on the 104th floor of the North Tower when the planes hit. The couple had welcomed their third child just four days before. Now Strada is among those fighting for the right to sue Saudi Arabia over the death of her loved one.

STRADA: Yes, there is a compensation part to the lawsuit but for the families, mostly what we are trying to accomplish is holding them accountable.

TAPPER: Allegations that the government of or officials in Saudi Arabia played some role in the 9/11 attacks have been raised since the towers fell, allegations the Saudis have vehemently denied.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Justice, justice, justice.

TAPPER: But the U.S. Senate this week unanimously passed legislation that would allow 9/11 families to take the kingdom to court and try to get answers. Even if it's next passed by the House, President Obama has threatened to veto the legislation.

JACK QUINN, COUNSEL TO 9/11 FAMILIES: This legislation doesn't say that any person, charity or governmental entity is libel.

[18:15:04] It only says they can't hide from the truth.

TAPPER: Why would a U.S. president oppose the wishes of the survivors of the worst mass murder in American history? The White House says the president stripping sovereignty would be disastrous.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president states he continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world.

TAPPER: But advocates say that's not true, that the bill's language protects the U.S. from retaliatory suits. QUINN: The administration does a very dangerous thing and that is to suggest that our activities in fighting terrorism are the equivalent of the activities of other countries in financing it.

TAPPER: Back in 2004, the 9/11 Commission says it found no evidence the Saudi government or high level Saudi officials funded the 9/11 attacks though in comments largely overlooked from a recent podcast interview with David Axelrod, deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, alleged some of the seed money for al Qaeda may have come from entities within Saudi Arabia.

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There maybe individuals, you know, who are operating, who kind of get to do their own thing.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Within the government?

RHODES: Within the government or family members.

TAPPER: The Saudis insist however that the 9/11 Commission report exonerated them.

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, SAUDI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: There is no room for discussing court matters now because from the Saudi point of view, this issue has been settled already.

TAPPER: Moreover the Saudi government has threatened to sell hundreds of billions in American assets if this bill becomes law, allowing the lawsuit to move forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: That was CNN's Jake Tapper.

The bill approved by the Senate now heads to the House.

Joining me once again to talk about this is the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce of California.

Chairman Royce, we know the president opposes this bill. Where do you stand?

ROYCE: Well, we're reviewing this closely. I think that the 9/11 report itself should be declassified.

But I'm talking to my colleagues about will this. I think that what is interesting to me and I had the former responsibility as chairman of the terrorism subcommittee to travel into North Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and there I saw a phenomenon and I'll just describe it to you quickly, Jim, but it was where prominent families like the bin Laden family, business families, inside Saudi Arabia were funding were funding these Deobandi schools or these madrassas.

And these particular types of confrontation at ones were teaching jihad in Nigeria. In the same area where now we have Boko Haram, jihad in North Africa and in Central Asia.

And the outgrowth of that is that you have people then carrying out attacks or joining al Qaeda as a consequence of the funding of these promise business families.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's a consistent criticism and it's one of the findings in the 9/11 report, even though it exonerated Saudi officials of backing the 9/11 attacks. They have said that they sent money to these madrassas and other schools and continue to that fuel extremism.

But I do want to ask you on that point, should the families of 9/11 victims have the right to sue Saudi Arabia? At least have the right to do that, regardless of what the courts find?

ROYCE: Well, we are going to discuss with my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. That's the committee of jurisdiction here. We haven't looked at it yet.

But I think the first step obviously is to declassify the report itself and we'll look at this, which will come before us in the House.

SCIUTTO: The report we're talking about, these 28 pages from what was at the time a congressional report on potential Saudi ties to the attacks, some officials who might have known or supported the hijackers, really lower level officials. But based on what you know, is there evidence in there, disturbing evidence that there was some Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijackers?

ROYCE: That will be answered with the publication of the report, with the declassification of the report. That needs to be declassified so that we can go over that, we can talk about that. And that should be declassified now.

SCIUTTO: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce -- thanks for letting us cover so many topics with you this Sunday afternoon.

ROYCE: Thank you, Jim, very much.

SCIUTTO: Enjoy the rest of your weekend, coming up next here on CNN, we are going to continue to follow the presidential race, the pundits might say the Democratic nomination fight is over, but don't tell that to Bernie Sanders.

[18:20:00] He is nowhere near ready to surrender and his current target is the biggest prize left on the primary calendar: California. Could it be a golden opportunity to close the gap with Hillary Clinton? We're live from California and that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Senator Bernie Sanders says rival Hillary Clinton is out of touch with the Democratic Party. Sanders just rallied supporters in Southern California with just over two weeks before the state primary there on June 7th.

He made a fresh vow to stay in the race and keep fighting for the Democratic nomination, though he lags behind Clinton in pledged delegates.

I want to bring in Sunlen Serfaty. She is outside that Sanders event in Vista, California.

So, Sunlen, what does Sanders have to say about his chances in the general election match-up against Trump?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is really striking. Something that we have recently saw Bernie Sanders start to do is really try to look forward, move ahead and really start to make this strong general election argument, arguing to the crowd like he did here today that he thinks he has a better chance at beating Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton would in a general election. And this is a pattern that he has really been telling his crowd in increasing urgency in recent days, almost as if he's trying to validate his path forward and really explain why he is still in this race despite pressure from those within the Democratic Party that he should drop out.

Here's what he told this crowd today in Vista, California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the objective evidence is very clear, that in virtually every national poll and every state poll, we defeat Trump by larger numbers than does Secretary Clinton. I say to every Democrat in this country and those delegates who are going to the convention in Philadelphia, if you want the strongest candidate to make sure that Trump does not become president, we are that campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So, certainly, characterize that Jim as Bernie Sanders striking a very defiant tone in the last two weeks of campaigning before the last contest like here in California on June 7th. The end of this primary contest season -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Sunlen, when you talk to Sanders supporters there, do they still hold out hope that he can pull this off or is it more just kind of for fun now or just showing their loyalty to it?

SERFATY: I definitely get the impression that there is a loyalty factor for sure, Jim. You hear that from many Bernie Sanders supporters who have come to many of his campaign events over the duration of this campaign. But I do think that, you know, today include that had some of his largest applause lines that he gets from the audience is really talking about the process, talking about his path forward, talking about bringing the fight to Philadelphia. That really resonates to his supporters here.

So I haven't talked to anyone who feel that's should drop out. I think there is right now a sense that he should keep going forward. And he has not sent any signal otherwise -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks very much joining us from California.

SERFATY: The political season is anything but predictable. Here is one thing we do know. Female voters will help decide the next president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the only card they has is the woman's card. She has nothing else going. And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card and the beautiful thing is, women don't like her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Coming up, a woman explains how Donald Trump could successfully woo female voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:32] SCIUTTO: Donald Trump has a great deal of room to improve his standing with women voters. A CNN poll done in March found that 73 percent, three out of four of registered female voters view Trump unfavorably, just 26 percent view him favorably.

One of my next guests says women voters might actually help Trump win the presidency despite those numbers. Let's bring in senior political analyst David Gergen, he's a former adviser to numerous presidents, Republican and Democrat, and brand expert Martha Pease, she's CEO of DemandWerks.com.

And Martha, if I could begin with you, according to you here, "If Trump can stop taking pot shots at women and have the self-discipline to zero in on the economy and expanding economic opportunity for women, he has a golden opportunity to make far greater in-roads into the women's vote than he has now."

Martha, that's a big if at the top of that statement. But why do you think there is so much potential there?

MARTHA PEASE, BRAND EXPERT: Well, you know, you can look at -- you can look at this election from the perspective of women voters through the lens of their gender and women's issues. And that gives you one set of issues to think about how they're going to vote. But if you shift the lens and look at women voters through the lens of the economy, it gives you an entirely different perspective on them as voter.

The economy is the number one issue for all voters and it's even more important to women. Issues that relate to economic equality and access are also important issues to women. And Donald Trump, while he doesn't lead at the moment in terms of the voters' opinion about whether or not he could handle the economy, he certainly has an opening to address women and all voters, but particularly women voters, from the perspective of a strong economic capability and a strong economic stance.

SCIUTTO: No. It's a great point because we always tend to just pigeonhole whether it's women or Hispanics or blacks as being one issue, but they are no more one issue voters, I imagine, than white men are.

David, I want to ask you, though, because if this were a normal campaign, which we just perish that thought, but in any other campaign, a number of the comments that Donald Trump has made about women, whether it's about the menstruation of Megyn Kelly or, you know, more substantive comments about perhaps publishing women for abortions, comments which he later dialed back but still are hanging out there, today, can Trump get over those issues with the significance portion of women voters?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a steep hill to climb. As a Republican over the last several elections, you start out behind among women. There is a gender gap in almost every election going back, you know, 30, 40 years now. But he's made it immeasurably worse through his campaign comments, his general sexist attitude, there's a sense of misogyny, all the other questions that have been addressed.

But to go to Martha Pease's point, I think there's a -- I think she has a good point that women are moved not only by gender, and through -- they not only look at reality through a gender lens, but they also have other interests. And what we've seen this campaign already is that a lot of women in the Republican ranks who started out with a high disapproval of Donald Trump have actually come his way as he's won the nomination and Republicans have started to coalesce behind him.

So what we've already seen is that there is a fluidity in this race and he's already drawn more women to him. So, yes, I think the potential is there if he cleaned up his act and really went after women on the basis of what kind of economy are we going to create, what kind of job we're going to create. And I'm sure, as Martha Pease can tell us, you know, women are actually doing much worse in this economy than are men. And so they have an even greater interest in someone who's going to promise and seem to be able to deliver. Trump's strengths suggest to a lot of people he can deliver where others haven't.

SCIUTTO: No question.

Martha, I wonder, because so much of Trump's message is actually about the economy, not necessarily tailored to women, but about losing American jobs to China, to Mexico, to a sense that the American dream no longer exists for most Americans or for many Americans. I wonder in that message do you see already an appeal to women voters.

[18:35:01] PEASE: Absolutely. I would say -- I would say yes. And women have been disproportionately affected by the great recession. Two-thirds of minimum wage earners, for example, are women and that's widely acknowledged as a poverty level wage even though you're working. You know, 40 percent of single women households, single mother households live in poverty. And even at the other end of the spectrum, women in elite jobs are also continuing to experience pay gaps that are -- that are really significant.

And so women even -- while the issues may be related to them as women and their gender, what they're really thinking about is how they're experiencing their lives. And as they experience their lives what you do see in the poll numbers is that they even more than men consider the economy to be the most important issue. 89 percent of all registered women voters view the economy as the number one issue.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you, David, about another issue besides the economy and whether it not just appeals to women.

GERGEN: Sure.

SCIUTTO: But, you know, the real debate the last 24 hours between the two candidates has been on the gun issue.

GERGEN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Hillary Clinton, is this a way the focus -- certainly this is a -- gun restriction, popular issue with many Democratic voters. But what particular voting bloc is she going after by proving her sort of bona fides on stricter gun control?

GERGEN: Well, among other things, it's a way to box in Bernie Sanders and she still got to fight that off -- fight him off of course because he has coming from Vermont as we know has been more favorable toward guns than she has been. And she's outflanking him on this issue. But beyond that, Jim, I -- two things about Hillary. One is on guns, what she's trying to do is use guns as a larger point about Donald Trump making off-the-cuff comments, contracting himself within 24 hours or qualifying himself, and so that he's -- you know, he doesn't know what he believes, he's all over a lot, and he's irresponsibles you wouldn't want to trust him with the office.

That's going to be a central theme of her campaign. That's -- many people around her believe that making this anybody but Trump kind of election that gives her the best avenue to victory. But on Hillary's side, too. I think you have to start off on the proposition on the economy. She has put forward the most comprehensive plan of any of the candidates. The numbers add up better than they do in most of the campaigns. Trump's numbers don't add up.

So I think Trump can make inroads among women on the economic issues, but I do think he's not only has got to behave himself toward women in a different way but he's got to be much, much more stronger about the economy and what it will mean to have a Trump presidency, what it will mean for women in terms of jobs, closing the wage gap, closing the pay gap for women executives and the like.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Getting beyond the brand effectively to the politics.

GERGEN: Right. Exactly.

SCIUTTO: David Gergen, Martha Pease, thanks very much. GERGEN: Thank you.

PEASE: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, with the crash of EgyptAir shining a spotlight on security, it begs the question, what really works. Coming up in the next hour, our Richard Quest looks at how one airport focuses on risk and ignores older people and children to strike a successful and efficient balance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:50] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

SCIUTTO: We're following breaking news in the Middle East. Iraq's prime minister announcing an operation to retake the ISIS-held city of Fallujah has officially begun. These new pictures coming in to CNN now from the Iraqi military, they show officials dropping leaflets over the city warning residents -- residents there told to flee. The leaflets are safe cards that civilians are being asked to use to safely evacuate. The country's prime minister went on live TV just moments ago promising victory and saying that ISIS militants had no choice but to flee.

Also new chilling developments about the doomed EgyptAir jet that fell out of the sky on Wednesday. The "New York Times" is reporting that two years ago vandals tagged that very same aircraft with griffin saying, quote, "We will bring this plane down." The message was scrolled in Arabic on the underside of the jet. The "Times" reports the message was believed to be a political statement rather than a security threat.

This story left a lot of us wondering then what is the safest airport in the world and what does it do so differently to keep people safe?

CNN's Richard Quest takes us inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport or TLV, to give it its airport code, is regarded as one of the safest in the world for good reason. Everything about the airport has been designed with security specifically in mind. The location of the airport in relation to Tel Aviv itself. The number of security forces on site. Every level from army, special forces to police.

And as a passenger when you arrive at the airport, you're questioned as soon as you get in the terminal before you check in. Questions about who you are, where you've been, what you've been doing. What is in your bags. Some criticize this as being an element of racial or stereotyping or profiling. But it's a risk based security system rather than a one-size-fits-all.

The idea is that you don't necessarily need to pay as much attention to a 90-year-old granny and a 2-year-old child as you may need to do to a single male, for example, or somebody who might fit a profile more at risk.

There are criticisms, but the Israelis will tell you that their system has worked. The bags themselves are X-rayed upon arrival in the terminal, X-rayed before they go on the plane. And your hand luggage is again X-rayed. But here's the difference. Because of the risk based rather than one-size-fits-all, it seems to run much more efficiently.

There is a view that we don't need to worry about you, we're much more interested in you. And because of that, they are able to focus much more intently on those risks that are much greater than the security of the aircraft.

Whether it works or not I suppose you have to say the proof is in the final results. Whatever way you look at it, where just over a million passengers a month, it's one of the safest in the world, but it's also a far cry from one of the really big airport hubs like Heathrow, Amsterdam, New York or indeed Paris Charles de Gaulle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:45:12] SCIUTTO: I've been to Tel Aviv many times. Security there certainly very tough.

Well, a judge orders a small Mississippi town to merge its middle and high schools in the name of desegregation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of us go over there. Some of them come over here. So it shouldn't make a difference because we see each other every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Segregation in America. It lives on today next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Segregation still exists in a small Mississippi community more than 60 years after a landmark Supreme Court case declared school segregation unconstitutional. In Cleveland, Mississippi, one high school today is 99 percent African-American while the other is still seen as historically white, but that may be coming to an end.

Our Nick Valencia spent the last few days in this community that was created by a railroad line and is still today divided by it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REV. ED DUVALL, SCHOOL DESEGREGATION ADVOCATE: And this is uncomfortable for me. NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At home in

Cleveland, Mississippi, a father and son have a conversation that's been 50 years in the making.

DUVALL: We're doing what we think is right, not just for black folks, but for white folks and for everybody.

[18:50:03] VALENCIA: This week, after a five-decade long legal battle, a federal judge ordered the Cleveland School District to integrate. The Reverend Edward Duvall advocated for the move and even testified in court. His son Ed Jr. isn't so sure about the impending change.

ED DUVALL JR., EAST SIDE HIGH SOPHOMORE: Well, I think the parents -- where the parent wants the child to go not and whether the child wants to go.

DUVALL SR: And I don't expect you to agree with me. Just know that -- and understand that that I'm taking this far for the best interest of everybody.

VALENCIA (on camera): Population 12,000. Cleveland, Mississippi, has 11 public schools that are separated by train tracks that used to be right here. To the east, East Side High School. It's 99 percent black. To the west, Cleveland High School which historically has been seen as a school for whites, though enrollment there now is pretty evenly split between the races but still not representative of the population. The Department of Justice took exception with that and pushed to change it.

JAMIE JACK, SCHOOL DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I thought we were doing pretty well.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Attorney Jamie Jack represents the school district. For the last 50 years, she says the district has complied with federal orders to integrate. But for a federal judge the process wasn't moving fast enough.

JACK: What the court said was it wasn't intensive enough and it wasn't effective enough. And we think that with the Constitution and the law of the Supreme Court says is you don't have to have a racial quota that is required in every school, in every district. You have to have made a good faith effort and we think our district as a whole is desegregated.

VALENCIA: Since 2013, Cleveland School District has allowed open enrollment which gives the freedom of choice for any student, white, black, or other to go wherever they want. Jack says that system of choice proves segregation does not exist.

No one we spoke to at East Side High's graduation seemed to disagree with that. In fact, most said they like the way things are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's their choice to go to East Side, I go to Cleveland High. It's like a choice for us. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of us go over here. Some of them come over

here so it shouldn't make a difference because we see each other there every day.

DUVALL SR: First of all, it's not fully integration.

VALENCIA: But Duvall wants to see change because it's good for the entire community, he says, because it provides equal opportunity for all.

DUVALL SR: We're trying to make our community better. Not for just tomorrow or the next few years, but for your child.

VALENCIA: Nick Valencia, CNN, Cleveland, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Nick for that report.

The Cleveland, Mississippi, school board will meet this week to decide if they will appeal the decision. If they choose not to, the 2016 class of East Side High could be the final class to graduate from the school.

Coming up live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Maria Shriver is on a mission to help working moms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA SHRIVER, "THE SHRIVER REPORT": I don't think that business leaders know that half of American moms live paycheck to paycheck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:47] SCIUTTO: In this week's "American Opportunity," businesses and government are not doing enough to support working mothers. That's the assertion of journalist Maria Shriver and her brother Mark Shriver who are calling for more sick and parental leave.

CNN Money's Cristina Alesci tells us why they say most working moms are just barely getting by.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA SHRIVER: I don't think that business leaders know that half of American moms live paycheck to paycheck. I don't -- I think people are stunned.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: How do businesses need to change? Because we have been talking about a lot of change. We've been talking about here in L.A., the increase to minimum wage. All of this seems to be changing, but maybe it's not enough?

MARK SHRIVER, "THE SHRIVER REPORT": I think you see through the report the importance of sick days, of parental leave.

MARIA SHRIVER: I think the other thing is when you talk about change, very often businesses government, they're the last people who want to change and change is from the ground up. We're going to force political leaders to be interested in this and in the poll it said that most American mothers feel that American business makes it almost virtually impossible for them to parent and also to work and also to caregive. Repeatedly when we talk about, you know, they don't feel that businesses are supportive of them. They need sick leave maybe even more important than parental leave.

Businesses go wow, I didn't know that. I didn't know that that person sitting in the cubby is living paycheck to paycheck. They're working. They don't fit the image that I have of someone living paycheck to paycheck so I think these facts are important.

ALESCI: Why are business leaders and politicians so disconnected from these facts, from these realities?

MARK SHRIVER: I think people are busy. They're living their own lives. They're trying to meet their quarterly number. They're worried about their P&L. Politicians are worried about people that are giving them money and voting for them.

MARIA SHRIVER: I think also people have stuck in their minds images from 10 years ago, 15 years ago. They think people who are poor don't work. Couldn't be further from the truth. They think maybe a lot of mothers are staying at home. They don't realize that they're providing, that they're caregiving. They have parents who might have Alzheimer's also living in the home. They don't realize that somebody who is working full time maybe is making minimum wage and they have to raise two or three kids on that.

ALESCI: Have any business leaders committed to this? Have they said, we're going to change our work policy? We're going to change our --

MARK SHRIVER: There are a number of businesses across the country that have looked at the issue of early education. PNC Bank is really strong on it. Toys R Us is strong on it. T.J. Max does a lot of work on these issues.

ALESCI: Who needs to come around?

MARK SHRIVER: Well, the rest of the country and the political leadership.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: You can see more of our "American Opportunity" series at CNNmoney.com/Americanopportunity.

We've got a great night of television for you on CNN at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Anthony Bourdain visits the Greek Islands and at 8:00 he takes us to big sky country in Montana. Then at 9:00, an entirely new "PARTS UNKNOWN." Bourdain is in the country of Georgia, the former Soviet Republic where you don't mess with tradition. And at 10:00 every year more and more Americans make the decision to

live off the grid. The question is why are they leaving their creature comforts behind? Unplug for an hour and find out why with W. Kamau Bell and his series "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA."

I'm Jim Sciutto. It's been great being with you. This weekend, have a great week. I'll see you next time.